Ronnie Goldy Jr. can practice law again after Supreme Court ruling; Richard Boling can't
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated how former Rick Boling was removed as Christian County Commonwealth Attorney. He resigned the office.
The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday dissolved an order that temporarily suspended former Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Goldy Jr., from practicing law, saying he no longer poses a threat to the public given that he was impeached and removed from office.
But the court warned that he still could face discipline on underlying charges that he traded favors with defendant Misty Helton in court in exchange for receiving nude photos and videos of her.
With the Supreme Court ruling, Goldy is eligible to restart practicing law though that could change when the underlying case is adjudicated.
The temporary suspension was based on a finding there was probable cause that he violated a rule barring lawyers from talking to a client represented by other counsel.
Goldy was impeached by the Senate in March as commonwealth’s attorney for the 21st Judicial Circuit. He can no longer hold public office.
Ruling 5-2, the court found there was no evidence he posed a threat to private clients and dissolved his temporary suspension.
Chief Justice VanMeter and Justice Angela McCormick Bisig dissented but did not file opinions.
In a separate opinion, the court upheld a five-year suspension for former Commonwealth’s Attorney Richard Boliing of Christian County.
Boling was sanctioned for writing a letter on his office stationery to then-Gov. Matt Beving urging that he commute the sentence of Dayton Jones, who was convicted of the brutal sodomy of an unconscious 15-year-old boy.
Boling also was sanctioned for misconduct in the trial of Karen Brafman on charges of arson and attempted murder.
The court reversed her conviction and life sentence and ordered a new trial on the grounds he was aware of evidence Brafman was intoxicated at the time of the crime but argued against an intoxication jury instruction on the grounds no such evidence existed.
In fact, during a lunchtime recess in Brafman's trial, a detective told Boling in a conversation recorded on a “hot mike” that Brafman was “out of her fricking mind.” The video shows Boling and the detective laughing − as they talked about how they had kept the information from the jury. Neither knew the conversation was being recorded.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in favor of affirming the 5-year suspension.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Kelly Thompson wrote that in an adversarial system, Boling, as prosecutor, had no duty to make the defense’s case that Brafman was intoxicated.
Thompson said Boling deserved substantive punishment for the letter to the governor, but that his overall punishment was excessive
Boling resigned rather than face impeachment.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ronnie Goldy Jr. suspension lifted; Richard Boiling suspension not
